Tag: history

I read “Things Fall Apart” again, in the month of April after almost two decades  I finally understood why it is such a great piece of writing and why its author is venerated. However, reading it as an adult  in this present stage of my development in thought brought certain issues to the fore : 

• In as much as my loyalties are to the Christ and His Kingdom, I realize that the missionaries were the fore front of the war the Europeans of that time brought to the land and people of Igbo. Wittingly and/or unwittingly, they paved the way for the relentless and ruthless, utterly selfish and mercenary avarice and gluttony of the European ruling class. The gospel of Christ does not call for the decimation of a people, a change in loyalties, yes, but not a rape , a violation of a people and all the aspects of a way of life.  

It could have all happened differently , with a different effect on the land  and its peoples. Our cultural evolution , on so many levels and in so many different aspects, was catastrophically interrupted and we since have not recovered. Only in recent times has intellectual discourse begun on how, when, where to pick up the threads of our identity as a whole. 

• Certain aspects of Igbo culture/tradition have to be restored and incorporated in a balanced manner and reintroduced to the lives of contemporary Igbo. 

Two sections of the book have captured my attention because of the profundity contained in several lines. The depth of meaning is immense, worlds and realities existent in several lines of words. 

• Page 165 – “ Obierika who had been gazing steadily at his friend’s dangling body turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously, “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself and now he will be buried like a dog….” He could not say any more. His voice trembled and choked his words.” The death of Okonkwo is a representation of the death of Igbo, things/ concepts that we stand for, the death of identity. Granted, Okonkwo was a very flawed man in his character, but his sense of identity was so strong  that instead of bowing to the aggressive incursion/attack on his sense of self, he removed himself in a violent manner; such an extreme act that was in itself a sign to those left in the realm of the living. The death of a way of life, the death of high concepts that were aspired to : honour, bravery, dignity, loyalty – to land, family, friends. Oh, such tragedy. 
• Page 165 -166 – “ The Commissioner went away, taking 3 or 4 of the soldiers with him. In the many ways in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learnt a number of things. One of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details as cutting down a hanged man from the tree. Such attention would give the natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Everyday brought him some new material. The story of this man who had killed himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought : The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.” 

In one word “condescending”. 

All of Okonkwo’s life, its detail, its struggle, its significance brought low, clumped up into one chapter, nay, “a reasonable paragraph “ in a book describing one Caucasian’s experiences of his brutal tactics in conquering/dominating a people sophisticated in thought and ability, only different from his. 

This should never be forgotten. I do not advocate hatred towards ANY race. However, Igbo MUST NOT forget the effects of the incursion of Caucasians into her borders.

Read,Grow,Occupy

#RGO

This was originally written in my NeoIgbo journal 8th May,2014